My leadership log

(This is an extract from September's Taking The Lead, the monthly email newsletter I write for Leaders in London, published today).

Carly Fiorina led the merger of HP and Compaq before being given the order of the golden boot, but has since had her reputation re-built by results: Thanks to her HP strategy, Hewlett-Packard overtook IBM last year as the world’s largest technology company. Tom Peters, the business guru and a past Leaders in London speaker, now refers to her as his "CEO Hero". Fiorina likes to quote Lao Tsu:

Leadership is a hard-nosed thing, right? Especially in a downturn. If you're too soft, people will take advantage, won't strive to hit their targets (aka to please you, in these days of evaporating bonuses) and you won't be a strong leader, right? Well, it's not really as simple as that, is it.

This past week, I've been learning what works and what doesn't in new-style Communities of Practice, using Facebook-type tools where the members write the content (I mean The Hub, of course!). More precisely, the content kind of falls out of conversations members have with each other. We ask each other questions, compare practices, and hundreds of other community members feed off the answers.

1. Arrogance. You’re right. Everyone else is wrong.
2. Melodrama. You always grab the centre of attention
3. Volatility. Your mood shifts are sudden and unpredictable.
4. Excessive caution. The next decision you make may be your first.
5. Habitual distrust. You focus on the negatives.
6. Aloofness. You disengage and disconnect.
7. Mischievousness. You know that rules are only suggestions.

I've worked with Rene on and off for years now. He runs The Inspired Leaders Network, where I used to be Content & Programme Director, and chairs Leaders in London, where my job is to capture and distil the leadership wisdom from that event. I've always loved his inspired story-telling. Here's a spell-binding example from his Carayol website :

RENE CARAYOL ON NELSON MANDELA